For UFC 155's Chris Leben, Karlos Vemola a stepping stone back to 'in the mix'

Chris Leben (22-8 MMA, 12-7 UFC) is excited to get back to work. Ten months after a suspension for illicit painkillers benched him, the middleweight division has changed, and he wants back in the mix.

“I know that with where I’m at and what I need to do, that my real goal is to go out and make a statement,” Leben told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).

Karlos Vemola (9-3 MMA, 2-3 UFC) is not Leben’s ideal opponent, but a necessary step on the way to bigger opponents.

“I’m a little bummed out for Karlos Vemola because I know he’s lost his last couple, and now he’s getting a fresh reborn Chris Leben, which is going to be a bit tough for him,” the 32-year-old veteran of “The Ultimate Fighter 1″ said.

Leben and Vemola meet at UFC 155, which takes place Dec. 29 in Las Vegas, though an exact venue – either the MGM Grand Garden Arena or Mandalay Bay Events Center – has not yet been announced. The main card, including a heavyweight title fight between champion Junior Dos Santos and former titleholder Cain Velasquez, airs on pay-per-view following prelims on FX and Facebook.

Leben’s career has, in fact, undergone many a rebirth. Several win streaks and spectacular comebacks have been soiled by disappointing losses, and the middleweight’s out-of-the-cage behavior hasn’t helped matters.

A quick knockout win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132 was followed by a TKO loss via cut to Mark Munoz, and the UFC, which acted as the de facto athletic commission in England at UFC 138, found two types of painkillers in his system and banned him for a year.

Despite his ups and downs, Leben has always picked himself up and come back, and he’s always entertained fans in the cage. It remains to be seen whether this time is different. He’s fought 19 times inside the octagon and left a lot of plasma and brain cells in the octagon. He imagines he’ll probably hold the record for most fights when he leaves, and he wonders how his body will hold up then.

But the present is most important at this moment, and for Leben, this comeback is particularly exciting because there are several new contenders in his division.

Standouts such as Chris Weidman, Tim Boetsch and Hector Lombard are just a few of those making noise in the 185-pound class, and Leben wants to fight as many of them as possible before he hangs up his gloves. He’s not crowing about a title shot – that’s about as faraway a dream as ever (though apparently not completely out of reach, judging by Stephan Bonnar’s luck). But he nonetheless wants to prove he’s still one of the best in the world.

“I want to get back in the mix, so I’ve got to go out and handle Vermola, and then hopefully (UFC matchmaker) Joe (Silva) will put me up against a little bigger name,” he said.

Or one he can pronounce correctly. Leben couldn’t, and when he got the call to come back hadn’t much heard of the Czecholslovakian middleweight, who has alternated between wins and losses in his five fights with the UFC. But he studied a little bit of tape, and found the situation favorable.

“Watching the tape, I don’t see any spots that I’m extremely worried about. I can fight him wherever he goes,” Leben said. “I think as far as game plan goes, it’s just weathering that storm the first minute out of the gate.”

Leben remained active in the sport during his suspension and recently took steps to become licensed as a referee and judge in his adopted home of Oahu, Hawaii. He still owns a bustling MMA gym and teaches on a regular basis.

Fighting, though, has always been his first job, and he’s weathered quite a few storms during his time in the UFC. He’s been on the cusp of greatness and written off as a burnout. Yet, after all that, he’s still known as the guy who urinated on a fellow contestant’s bed on the inaugural season of the UFC’s seminal reality show, as he said of a recent signing in Sweden.

That part of Leben’s image has never changed. And as much as he’s matured as a fighter over the years, he admits his fighting hasn’t changed much, either.

“I’ve been trying to make a different Chris Leben for years and years,” Leben said. “I’ve always been saying I’m going to take this fight to the ground, I’m going to show my ground game and utilize my other skills, and then it just doesn’t seem to happen.

“Once I get punched in the face, [I’m] going to revert right back to what works.”

So it’s not so much that Leben is reborn. Hopefully, though, he is refreshed. When he is, only opponents at their best can weather his storm.

MMAjunkie.com Radio broadcasts Monday-Friday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT) live from Mandalay Bay Resort & Casino’s Race & Sports Book. The show is hosted by “Gorgeous” George Garcia, MMAjunkie.com lead staff reporter John Morgan and producer Brian “Goze” Garcia. For more information or to download past episodes, go to www.mmajunkie.com/radio.

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